Being a transfer student in the middle of third year at Hogwarts is quite uncommon, not to mention the fact that everyone else had made their friends in first year and stuck to them. I was new meat. I was new Canadian meat. I had no idea what I was doing.
You see, in Canada, there are two academies for witches and wizards. Neither of them were good enough for my Mum and Dad. My Mum thought that the next nearest school, which was in America would do well enough for us, but my Dad had bigger plans. He was born a Brit, and he's quite proud of it. Also, he's quite proud of where he went to school.
"Hogwarts, what kind of name is Hogwarts? Who wants to go to a school that sounds like a pig with herpes??"
"Watch your language, Gracia."
"But really, it sounds disgusting doesn't it?"
"No, it does not. It is the best school for witchcraft and wizardry in the world." My father said, settling the deal.
We caught the portkey to London, England at 3 am, only to arrive there at 9 am England time. I was not happy. Lack of sleep does NOT make a 13 year old girl happy. Not at all. I had to admit being in England was nice, though. It was not as cold as Canada. It was almost like fall all over again.
"We have to run. The Hogwarts Express leaves at 11." My mother said, checking her watch (which magically changed time as soon as we arrived in London).
"Alrighty then," my Father said, "Off to the train station!" We got a muggle cab, so we wouldn't stick out of course. The worst thing about muggle cabs, though, is their complete lack of space. We were all completely squashed in the back seat. When we arrived at the train station, all my luggage in tow, we set out to find platform 9 ¾ which was easy for my Dad to find, but impossible if you told my mother or me to go look for.
There were a couple of families in line to get onto the platform, both of which my father seemed to know.
"Harry, Ginny," he nodded to one couple, then, nodding to the other couple he smiled and said,
"Ronald, Hermione." Both couples smiled and returned the greeting.
"I haven't seen you in a while, where have you been, and who is this?" the red haired man, Ronald asked, motioning to me.
"I was living in Canada with my wife and my daughter, but we thought that putting our daughter in school here would be more beneficial for her, though we understand that putting her in in the middle of third year might hurt her academics, I'm sure she'll do quite fine. She's exceptionally bright." My father replied.
"Ahh, That sounds lovely." Said the red-headed woman named Ginny. "How old are you?" she asked me.
"I'm thirteen years old. I'll be fourteen in February." I replied.
"Oh, next month," said the black-haired man named Harry. "That's when my son Albus turns fourteen as well. I only nodded.
"Well I suppose we should be off, you'll show young Cia here how to get through the barrier, won't you Harry?"
"Most definitely. It was nice seeing you."
"And you as well," my father said, and Crack! My mother and father were gone. Not even a kiss. I sighed.
"Alright then, I suppose we should get you all through the barrier." Hermione said.
"James, why don't you go first?" Ginny suggested. And so he did. One by one all of the other children ran straight into the wall, but didn't stop there. They went through the wall. I was utterly appalled. The school I had started at in Canada, we just found our way to school ourselves! No running through walls.
"Your turn, Cia." Hermione said. She had stayed behind to make sure I got through okay. "Just start by running, and you'll be fine."
I started accelerating towards the wall, and suddenly I was on the other side. It was absolutely beautiful. A gigantic red train. It must have been at least a hundred years old.
"Follow me," Said Hermione as soon as she crossed the barrier. "Lily and Hugo, you too."
Lily and Hugo were in their first year, and I felt like an absolute child being paired with them for this, but it wasn't all that important. Hermione showed us where to put our luggage for it to be stored on the train, then we met up with the rest of the two families.
"It's almost eleven." Harry said, upon looking at his watch. "You all best be off."
I watched the adults give all their kids hugs and kisses, except James, he ran off somewhere, and then exchange hugs with the other family's kids, then I followed behind Albus and Rose onto the train.
"I hope you don't mind, but we're sitting with a couple of our friends. The compartment will probably be full." Rose said. I shrugged, and kept walking when they slid into a compartment. Eventually, I found a compartment that had one seat left, and slipped into it. The girls that were sitting in it quieted as soon as I entered.
"Hello, I'm Cia. I'm from Canada. Nice to meet you." I said, smiling. They all smiled back and introduced themselves. There was Cori, she was tall and blonde and really nice, there was Creisha, she was also tall, but she had black hair with purple and red and green and blue streaks in it, she was nice, though, she seemed a little odd. Next to her was Maria, she was extremely thin and shy but she seemed friendly. On the other side of the compartment were two girls, one named Cray, she was quite petite and unusually happy, and the other one was Mika. Mika seemed to be the mother of all the girls. She said a polite hello after introducing herself and went back to planning something with Cori.
I took my seat beside Mika and fell asleep, only to be shaken awake by Cori hours later. "Hurry up, get your robes on. We'll be there within minutes." She said. I shook my head a few times to get it clear.
"Alright. Excuse me for a minute, then" I said, exiting the compartment and finding myself a bathroom. I got changed quickly and got out only seconds before the bus screeched to a halt, causing me to tumble down the hall, right into an extremely attractive boy. He flashed me a smile and held his hand out to me. I took it and he pulled me up.
"Uh, sorry." I muttered, while looking at my feet.
"No problem." He said, flashing me a dazzling smile. "My name's Scorpius. Pleased to make your acquaintance. Who might you be?"
"Oh, I'm a transfer student." I said all too quickly. "My names Gracia, but Cia works."
"Well, Gracia. I hope to bump into you again." He said, winking and turning to exit the train.
After grabbing my carry-ons and leaving the train, I found myself being led towards carriages that were pulled by nothing. I rolled my eyes. "How much stranger does it get?" I muttered to myself, before getting on the closest empty carriage and sitting down.
Within five minutes the carriage was full. Albus, Rose and a few of their friends joined me. Of course, neither of them said a word to me so I sat and stared out the window. Just the view of the castle was enough to keep me occupied for then. It was beautiful.
We were all guided into a room called "The Great Hall" and told to sit down at our house tables, though of course I had no idea what a house was. I sat between Mika and Maria instead, at a table that had a whole lot of red and gold above it. I saw that Cori was sitting at the table that was decorated with a lot of blue, Creisha was at a table with a lot of yellow, along with Cray, and Scorpius was at the table to the very left of the hall, it was covered with tons of green and silver.
"I suppose you haven't been sorted yet, have you?" Mika asked me. I shook my head. "Oh well, then. I hope you like being in front of crowds." She smiled, and Maria laughed.
"Ahem" boomed a voice from the front of the hall. I assumed it was the principal, or whatever they called it here. It was a woman's voice. Everyone turned their head towards her, so I thought I'd do the same.
"We are pleased to announce that there is a new student with us this year. She is in third year. Though it seems that she has already chosen her house, she still has yet to be placed. Would Gracia Stogo please come up." She said. At that moment I saw what Mika was saying. There was a hat placed on a chair, and I was to put THAT hat on. That ruddy old hat. I walked up to the front of the hall and sat on the chair. The principal lady placed the hat on my head.
"I may be ruddy and old," the hat said, "But your minds a bunch of gibberish." I sighed, just as everyone in the room burst out in laughter. "Now, let's see. Where shall we put you? You've a brilliant mind, but you're creative as well. You're brave.. You could do well anywhere, but where will you go?" There was a pause. Everyone there stopped talking. "Gryffindor!" It yelled, and at least ¾ of the room cheered and clapped. The people at the table decorated with green didn't seem especially pleased, and they went back to their conversations.
The principal pushed me back towards the table I was sitting at earlier, and said "Let's eat!"
And we ate. There was the most wonderful food that magically poofed onto the tables. I ate my fill and sat there, listening to Mika and Maria's conversation. Mika didn't seem like she was eating much, but I didn't say anything about it. Maybe she just didn't eat a lot.
That night, I followed Mika and Maria up to what they called the "Gryffindor Tower", and into the common room, which is the british word for "hang out" I think. They showed me where I would be sleeping, but said that they would not be sleeping in the same room as me, because they were second years, and I slept in a room with the third years. They told me stories of boys trying to get into the girls dormitories (apparently the stairs turn into a slide when boys try to go up them). And they told me about all kinds of candies you can get from Albus, James and Rose. Ones that make you sick so you can miss classes, ones that aren't really candies, they're really just love potions, ones that give you itches and sores and so much more. I told them how boring my school in Canada was compared to Hogwarts, and they laughed at me.
Eventually I said good night and headed to my room.
It was beautiful. It was rounded, and there were five beds. My trunk sat at the end of one of the beds, so I assumed that bed was for me. Eventually the other four girls shuffled in, ready for a good night's sleep. To my surprise, Rose was in my room. Her bed was situated beside mine. When she sat down she glared at me.
"That bed was mine before Christmas. Now I have to move because of you. And to top it all off, we all have less room! You're just butting into all of our lives now." I sat through Rose's whole rant, hoping it would be short. Luckily it was. Apparently Classes started the next day, so she went to sleep, and shortly after, so did I.